I don’t, but I somehow like your idea of increasing the Acclaim cost of raising reputation.
Since promotions don’t really have any gameplay effects, I tend to handle this narratively. If we play on an Intrepid class ship, there is no post available for a Commander, only Lieutenant Commander. So promoting someone to Commander rank would mean that the character gets transferred to a different ship, and that might not be in a player’s interest.
I think every department head should have the ability to Commend Another within their department. Captain and XO should be able to Commend Another for the whole crew. And year, going from highest to lowest rank seems like a good idea to commanding officers can dispense of their Acclaim/Reprimands first.